“We Will Not Sack You, You Will Remain Where You Are Until You Pass Promotional Exams” – Gov Otti To Civil Servants

By Suleiman Anyalewechi

Amidst public outcry and criticisms of the mass failure that  trailed recently held promotional examinations for civil servants, the Abia State Governor Dr Alex Otti has blamed the  situation on the lack of  preparedness of  the  participants .

This is even as the authorities have fixed Wednesday December  18, 2024, for the affected civil servants to retake the examination.

The Source reports  that the August 2022/23 Promotion  Examination recorded over 80% failure, prompting critics to question the  sincerity of the exercise.

The Chairman of the  main opposition party in the state, the Peoples Democratic Party PDP, Abraham Amah, in an open letter addressed to Governor Alex Otti, dated December 5,  described the embarrassing outcome of the examination as a deliberate ploy to further humiliate the state workforce .

Amah expressed serious concern  over several other past steps allegedly taken by the State Government since its inception to cause unnecessary distress to civil servants and their families .

The PDP Chairman questioned how a sincere and well intentioned promotional examination conducted without any hidden agenda could record such an embarrassing and scandalous mass failure as was the case in the Abia state Government- supervised examination.

According to Amah, the outcome of the examination is not in zinc with the widely acclaimed educational prowess of Abians both locally and internationally.

The PDP expressed the fear that the outcome of the examination might  be a prelude to either demoting or  retrenching innocent civil servants who have so far survived series of  harrowing verification exercises .

But at  his monthly media interaction on Friday night, December 13, 2024, the Abia State Governor  assured that no civil servants will be retrenched or demoted on account of his/her failure to scale through the promotional examination.

Governor Otti noted that the lackadaisical attitude of most of the participating workers cost them the examination.

“I have gotten feedback from some of the people who took the examination and what they are saying is that in the past, everyone used to  pass the examination. But everyone cannot pass this time around .

“If you sit for an examination and you probably didn’t prepare very well, then there are greater chances that you will fail than you will pass.

“Anyway, the directive that they should go and resit the examination is the right thing to do at the moment.

But I am not too sure that we are where we will ask anybody to leave because he or she  didn’t pass . You may just be where you are until you pass” Governor Otti stated

The state Government in a release issued by Ngozi Queen Obioma, the Head of Service  HOS, informed that civil servants who failed the examination now have another opportunity to retake same.

According to the public service notice, those who, for one reason  or the other could not participate in the August 2024 examination, can also take part .

Mrs Obioma stated that the rescheduled 2022/2023 promotional examination will be held at the Kanu Nwankwo Indoor Sports Hall of the.Abia Warriors Stadium Umuahia.

“Please note that the eligible civil/public servants who did not sit for the 2022/2023 written examination are to proceed to the Bureau of Establishment and Pensions for registration before, or by the close of work on Friday, December 13, 2024.

While those resitting are to use their last registration number “,  part of the public notice reads .

Before the decision to offer those who failed the initial exercise another chance the State Government had  maintained studied silence in the face of the barrage of attacks that followed the mass failure in the August, 2024 exercise.